Made for maharajasA
look at the splendour of royal life
by Amin Jaffer

Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala by Vandyk, 1931. The Maharaja was fond of decorations, as is evident from the profusion of medals on his chest. In addition to those awarded him, he purchased badges and medals from Spink and Son

Banquet held in the Durbar Hall, Laxmi Vilas Palace, Baroda, on the occasion of a state visit of Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner, 1934. In a speech of 1933, Gaekwar Sayajirao III declared that ‘There is, perhaps, no finer room in India’

THE types of western
objects that excited the imperial imagination included not only
paintings, sculpture, musical instruments, weapons and exotic animals,
but also examples of European clothing.

* * *

Indian princes
demonstrated a keen interest in European things, which they collected
and prized in precisely the same way that rare and wondrous objects
from Asia were in the West.

* * *

Indian princes allied to
the various Western trading companies showed a taste for western goods
that reflected their political loyalties. On a practical level too,
Indian elites who negotiated and fraternised with Europeans eventually
began to adopt aspects of western lifestyle and behaiour, such as
sitting on a chair instead of on textiles on the ground.

* * *

Maharaja Pratap Singh of Nabha seated at a table set with the Minton dinner service ordered by his father, c. 1942

Rani Sita Devi of Kapurthala, c. 1935. In her day the princess was considered one of the best dressed women in the world. In this photograph she wears the dramatic Tangerine Velvet headdress by the renowned firm of Reboux and a silver fox coat designed by Mainbocher, the American couturier who created the wedding dress worn by Wallis Simpson at her 1937 marriage to the Duke of Windsor

Necklace, platinum set with rubies, diamonds and pearls. Made by Cartier for Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, 1928

Sandal, leather with multicoloured beads. Made by Ferragamo for Maharani Indira Devi of Cooch Behar, 1938. In his memoirs, Salvatore Ferragamo recalled extraordinary commissions from the maharani, among them a pair of shoes in green velvet encrusted with pearls and a pair in black velvet set with diamonds

As subject peoples in an
imperial system there was no greater honour for an Indian prince than
to meet his ruler. For formal events such as presentation at court,
Indians were instructed to wear ‘proper Durbar dress’ complete
with national or tribal headgear. It was in romantic Oriental garb
that Queen Victoria and her successors wanted to view the exotic
peoples of the Empire. As surviving negatives from London’s
fashionable photographic studio Lafayette show, Indians routinely
called in on the way to court in order to be photographed on the day
they met the sovereign.

* * *

Whether buying mirrors
in Venice, porcelain in Dresden or jewellery in Paris, shopping was an
indispensable part of a European tour. For first time visitors, it was
essential on arrival to acquire western-style clothes. The colourful
apparel of Indian princes aroused attention, and the sooner they
adopted full western dress, the sooner they were able to appear
inconspicuous during their travels. So outlandish was his dress
considered, that while sitting on a bench in the Musee Grevin in
Paris, a courtier trave lling with Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala was
mistaken for one of the museum’s waxwork figures! Indian women too
sometimes adopted western clothes when traveling in Europe, as did
Rani Kanari, wife of of Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala, and Chimnabai,
wife of Sayaji Rao III of Baroda.

The social round in London also
necessitated particular type of dress, such as an evening suit and top
hat, both of which could be acquired by outfitters in and around
Savile Row. For westernised princes, visits to Europe provided an
opportunity to order clothes and update their wardrobes with the
latest fashions. Western clothes, shoes and handbags, were also
becoming an indispensable part of a royal bride’s trousseau and
visits to Europe provided an opportunity to choose the latest creation
from leading fashion houses. Sayaji Rao III was so regular a client of
Henry Poole & Co., that he awarded the company a royal warrant.

* * *

While in Europe, rulers
enjoyed for the first time freedom from the constraints of court
scrutiny. The West also offered them celebrity status; maharajas and
their wives appeared in social columns in newspapers, and on the front
of fashionable magazines. Some figures, like the dashing Aly Khan, the
amusing Brinda Devi of Kapurthala (for whom Cole Porter wrote Let’s
Misbehave) and the captivating Maharani Indira Devi of Cooch Behar
were leading figures in the beau monde. Mrs Evelyn Walsh recalls the
impression created by Indira Devi in the casino at Le Touquet in the
1920s:

...the most fabulously
beautiful young Indian lady, holding the longest cigarette holder I
had ever seen, wearing a brilliant silk sari and covered with pearls,
emeralds and rubies. She was quite poker-faced but had a pile of chips
in front of her to testify to her success and to top it all she had a
live turtle, whose back was laded with three strips of emeralds,
diamonds, and rubies and which she was using as a talisman. Every now
and then the creature would crawl across the table but every time she
caught it back. The crowd was totally mesmerised by her.

* * *

The change in the
circumstances of maharajas over the past sixty years has brought about
the dispersal of many princely collections. The fabulous jewels
commissioned with aplomb in days of grandeur have been largely sold
piecemeal at international auctions, or are in hiding, away from the
attention of tax officials. The palaces built on a vast scale are now
chiefly hotels or museums and their contents, paintings, libraries and
chandeliers, cars and works of art have in some cases been sold to pay
for expenses or to settle family disputes over inheritance.

Still, the
romance of princely Indian exists, evident, for instance, in the
mesmerising display arranged by Cartier in 2002 of the reconstructed
Patiala diamond necklace. Although set with cubic zirconium, this tour
de force of jewellery, and the glamorous story behind it, captivated
western audiences and brought to the fore the myth of the maharaja and
the appeal of the age gone by.